Yummy Dinner/Lunch

So since I am almost unemployed, and a pretty cheap person all around, I try to bring my lunch to work. Its extremely easy to get bored of sandwiches and extremely easy to get lazy and want to just buy my lunch. The trick I have had to find is come up with really easy and yummy items to bring for lunch.

My newest love HUMMUS! Then I just bring pita chips, pretzels, carrots, and celery.

I was shopping at the grocery store this week and found cooked shrimp for 4 dollars! Shrimp is my absolute favorite so I bought with no clue whatsoever what I would do with it. Tonight when I decided to cook I wanted to make rice and add in crunchy chow mien noodles to it. The problems: I dont know how to cook rice and I dont know how to make a yummy sauce for the shrimp.

So I managed to make Jasmine rice with the help of the directions on the package and looked up what I can put in a sauce. I ended up using soy sauce, garlic, butter, peanut sauce, rice wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, and toasted sesame seeds.

The finished delicious dish:

How to Treat Others

Some stories I found online.

1. First Important Lesson - "Know The Cleaning Lady"

During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?"

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade.

"Absolutely," said the professor. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say "hello."

I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.


2. Second Important Lesson - "Pickup In The Rain"

One night, at 11:30 p.m., an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rainstorm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car.

A young white man stopped to help her, generally unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960s. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxicab.

She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a giant console color TV was delivered to his home.

A special note was attached. It read: "Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband's bedside just before he passed away. God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others."

Sincerely, Mrs. Nat King Cole.


3. Third Important Lesson - "Remember Those Who Serve"

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. "How much is an ice cream sundae?" he asked. "50¢," replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied the coins in it.

"Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?" he inquired. By now more people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing impatient. "35¢!" she brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his coins. "I'll have the plain ice cream," he said. The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left.

When the waitress came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies. You see, he couldn't have the sundae, because he had to have enough left to leave her a tip.


4. Fourth Important Lesson - "The Obstacles In Our Path"

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many of us never understand - "Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition."


5. Fifth Important Lesson - "Giving When It Counts"

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year-old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, "Yes, I'll do it if it will save her."

As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning to her cheeks. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded. He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, "Will I start to die right away?".

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her.

King of Anything

I usually refrain from posting videos because no one really cares or watches videos people post, but I LOVE this song. I dance and sing around my room really loud when the song comes on tv. For some reason I just can't help myself. The song is just plain one of those feel good songs. To me it says fuck you, why do you even get to have an opinion about me?

Projects for the Summer

Silverware hooks for my scarves.

Cork board with gold frame.

Chalkboard painted labels for my craft supplies.

Grow your own best friend doll....

Sometimes I think thats who I was to my Mom. I was here perfect best friend and she was mine. She raised me to be a person that she could always (well almost always) get along with. I imagine that a daughter is pretty much that to her mother. Or at least thats what our relationship was. We didn't have the same personalities, but we definitely complimented each other. I was a little more straight laced and serious and she was a bit crazy and outgoing. It worked perfectly for us. Plus we loved to do all the same things. We had the same hobbies and interests. We both loved Art and Crafts and thift stores and even the same music. We had the same style in clothes, in house stuff, and even the same taste in food. So it was always so easy to hang out with each other because I had the perfect person to drag with me whenever I wanted to do something.

Wierdly, not being able to go shopping together makes me not even enjoy shopping as much....and that is really one of my favorite things to do. We always spent so much time together. I get sad at the littlest things. Like the fact that we would buy matching clothes sometimes. Or watching CSI together. I have no one to do that with anymore. Everytime I do something or see something that reminds me of her I just get so choked up. I tear up countless times during the day. Sometimes when a certain show comes on the tv or when I at the store shopping for something. Or just a thought that reminds me of her. I completely lose it. I dont know how to handle this anymore.

On Mothers Day was the first time I had been to the cemetery. It was really surreal, I mean I know that she is gone, but its was one of those moments that is so definitive. It really put things into perspective. I havent been able to talk to anyone about how Im feeling. If I even try to say one word. It just doesnt even come out because I cant breath, my throat just stops working and no words even come out.

My Trip

March 27th Brig-Munich

March 28th Munich

March 29th Munich-Prague

March 30th Prague

March 31st Prague-Vienna

April 1st Vienna

April 2nd Vienna-Brussels

April 3rd Brussels-London

April 4th London

April 5th London- Paris

April 6th Paris- Barcelona

April 7th Barcelona

April 8th Barcelona

April 9th Barcelona

April 10th Barcelona- Naples

April 11th Naples

April 12th Naples- Rome

April 13th Roma- Sienna

April 14th Sienna

April 15th Sienna- Pisa-Brig

April 16th Brig

April 17th Brig- Zurich-New York

April 17th to 27th- New York

April 27th New York- Tri Cities

Made My Day

As I was leaving my econ class today that I had with Mr. Cocker he asked to see me before I left. Obviously I assume that this is bad, usually it always is. I had turned in a paper last week, that definitely wasn't my best so I thought he was going to say something about that. Then he started talking about my self evaluation, which is from my organizational behavior class that I have with him. We had a tutorial last week in which a group of five students sits down and discusses different issues presented in the course. I am beginning to REALLY enjoy them. At first they are intimidating, completely different from my past school experiences. No teacher usually cares that much to sit down and discuss and explore issues we learn about. Mostly they just have us regurgitate what they say in class on the test.

Mr. Cocker is different, alot of what we learn is class is relevant to the test (tutorials), but thats not the point. It to explore the different view points of an issue and be able to back up the argument with experiences and what we learn in class. Its basically amazing, he is teaching me HOW to think about stuff not just throwing out terms that I need to memorize. The situation often turns debate like when the students or Cocker don't agree with each other during the tutorial.

Back to the self evaluation. Anyway he pulled me aside to thank me for coming back to school after what happened with my mom. Then he asked how I was doing. This wasn't a pity ask at all. This was a I truly want to know how you are dealing with this ask. On my self evaluation I talked about how I could connect my future plans into what we talked about in the tutorial rather than just past experiences. He said that I have alot of potential. This was not a, "why are you failing...you should know you have alot of potential," situation. It was also not a you need to have more confidence in what you have to say because what you have to say has substance either. He was being serious. He said I had really good reasoning that I presented during the tutorial.

Mr. Cocker, while often confusing from a student standpoint, is one of the most intelligent people I have ever come across in my life. Quite possibly could be for the rest of my life. Sometimes his classes are a tad boring because of the material, but what he has taught me is how to develop and argue an issue. For some reason I have never learned this. Yeah I have had to write papers. But it makes more sense to test us verbally on the spot because thats how it will be in life and in the workplace. We won't walk back to out desks at our job and whip out a five paragraph essay. We will have a conversation with someone and build off of what each person presents about the issue.

It was extremely flattering for no reason at all to have a teacher tell me I have potential. It means so much more coming from someone else.